Use Of Figurative Language In Elizabeth Bowen's The Demon Lover

A narrative is meant to be read and interpreted through the lenses of the culture and time

period in which it is written in; however, a narrative can also be retold and reapplied to new cultures and time periods in order to allow the narrative to be pertinent to the local area. “The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen, a tale set in London during the time of World War II, is based on an older Scottish ballad,”The Daemon Lover”. Although both pieces are meant to be read and interpreted through completely different lenses, both pieces share a fundamental message albeit that they are portrayed in completely different manners.

In the short story “The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen, the central message of

loyalty is conveyed through the setting

and through the internal monologue of Mrs.Drover. The
central theme of this piece is presented in an subtle, intangible, and climatic manner at the end of
the piece when Mrs.Drover is taken away by the mysterious taxi driver. All throughout the piece,
clues are left in order to help the reader understand the central message of loyalty and the
consequences of breaking promises. The ominous setting of post-World War II London with
“the next batch of clouds, already piling up inkdark, broken chimneys and parapets” allows the
reader to further understand the situations that Mrs.Dover has gone through and symbolizes the
despair caused by Mrs.Drover’s broken promise to the soldier (Bowen 5). As Mrs.Drover is in
her house she is reminded that “today is [her] anniversary, and …[that she has] to keep [her]
promise” of waiting in order to marry the soldier (Bowen 8). Due to the fact that Mrs.Drover has
married and has had children, she pays for breaking her promise by getting taken away by the
taxi as she “[issues] her first scream” and “After that she continued to scream freely”(Bowen 17).
Due to Mrs.Drover not being loyal to the soldier and breaking the promise that she made to him,
she pays dearly when she is taken away by the taxi driver at the end of the short story.
In the Scottish Ballad,”Daemon Lover” , the central message of being faithful and loyal to the institution of marriage is conveyed through figurative language and through the use of a parable.

In the ballad, the woman leaves her house and family to go away with her previous lover when he promises her “ four-and-twenty bold mariners, \ And music on every hand” (Ballad 20). But after they “sailed a league,../A league but barely three”, the woman “wept..bitterly” and at the end she died when the man “stuck the top-mast with his hand.../And sank her in the sea”(20, 21). Her disobedience and her infidelity to the marriage caused her to suffer as she died when the man sunk the ship to the sea. The parable presented in the ballad reveals the suffering and punishment caused by the woman’s infidelity to her marriage. When the woman's lover is describing how he will take care of her and how he promises her a ship with “sails [made] of the teffeta,/ And the masts of the beaten gold” he is exaggerating the truth in order to convince the woman that she should escape with him (Ballad 20). In addition when the woman began to cry about leaving her husband and kids, the man “stuck the top-mast with his hand,/ The fore-mast with his knee;/ And he broke that gallant ship in twain, / And sank her in the sea” (Ballad 21). This gross over statement of the truth helps convey the severity of the punishment that women who cheat and are not faithful to their marriages are going to receive. The

figurative language presented throughout this ballad helps convey the severity of the temptations and of the punishments that are going to be bestowed upon women who cheat.
Through the careful inspection of both pieces of literature, considered their similarities
and differences, the main message that can be taken away is to be loyal to other people, and to
not be so consumed by greed that you break the promises that you have made.

In both pieces this

can be clearly seen as Mrs.Drover is punished for breaking her promise to the soldier while the

women in the Scottish ballad is punished for breaking the promise of marriage. In both these

pieces, the character is harshly punished for not being loyal and breaking the promises that they

have made; however, in the Scottish ballad another crucial aspect is also revealed. The

woman is entranced by the riches and glory that the lover promised her and as such breaks her

vow of marriage to her husband and leaves with the lover. The greed for the riches allows the

women in the Scottish ballad to break her vows and leave with the lover but at the end she pays

for her sins as the lover “stuck the top-mast with his hand,...And sank her in the sea” (Ballad

21).
Although both stories share the same fundamental message, the message is more clearly
conveyed in the Scottish Ballad. This is due to the use of a short, easy-to-understand parable that
allows the reader connect to the story in a way that is not possible in the “Demon Lover” by
Elizabeth Bowen where the complex plot and ambiguous storyline distract the reader away from
the fundamental message of loyalty. In addition to this, the figurative language used in the
“Daemon Lover” helps enhance the message of the story by conveying the severity of the
punishments and of the temptations that the women went through for cheating on her husband
while in the “Demon Lover” the details distract the reader away from the message as it makes
the plot more ambiguous. Overall the Scottish ballad portrays the message in a more
understandable way than “The Demon Lover”.